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Try making a small but lovely bottle garden or even a kettle garden, which will help you to use up old pots and pans and slightly damaged kettles instead of littering the earth with their carcasses. For a kettle garden try this very accommodating plant—the fittonia. Also called the snake plant because of its stunning snakeskin leaves, it loves humidity and will do well inside the house, especially in the bathroom. It will grow inside any bowl, vessel, jug or mug, and will even grow normally in a usual pot. But this unusual beauty invites you to try out new and unusual places for it to snuggle into. The fittonia comes in green and white and also in a stunning pink and green colour combination resembling snakeskins or fish bones. It has soft, thin as paper leaves. This plant does not like cold and wet conditions and should be protected from direct sunlight. It is one of the nicest plants to grow inside a bottle or a terrarium. The soil should be an equal mixture of compost, sand and red mud. It must be watered daily, without fail, or on hot days you might suddenly find it drooping and sometimes even dying. There is a small-leaved fittonia called F. argyroneura, which is much easier to grow but the pink and green beauty is irresistible. And once you remember to give it enough humidity and water, it will give you many delightful years watching its unusual patterns. It will start thriving in the rainy season and can be easily propagated through division or by cuttings. It strikes roots at the nodes, which easily start to grow in moist soil. Unfortunately it is not always available in plant shops. But when you find it, you must pick up this unusual beauty from Peru. The fittonia has the mysterious and delightful habit of always surprising you. It will vanish for several weeks and sometimes for months, if you have made the mistake of not watering it regularly. Then, just when you have given up on it, and even stopped regretting your loss, this plant named for a snake’s beautiful patterns will suddenly appear in its pot to gladden you. Also called the nerve or mosaic plant, it was introduced to gardeners around the world from Peru almost a 100 years ago. Closed bottles and terrariums will do the watering for you, so that all you have to do is watch your snake plant and enjoy its pink or sea green charm. Its leaves will also wind around hanging pots or make rich glittering mounds in shallow saucepans, biscuit tins, old cake boxes or whatever unusual or odd materials you may find around the house to put it in. To ensure total moisture
for this fussy plant (if you grow it in soil in a pot), place the pot
on top of pebbles lining either a tray, or even a larger pot. Keep
some water mixed in with the pebbles for constant evaporation. The
fittonia is not very fussy about light since it is a jungle creeper
and loves the shade as well. Very hot dry sun will burn up its leaves.
If the leaves drop off, it is feeling the cold so move it to a warmer
place. Pinch the leaves often to keep it from getting straggly.
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